By steve fesenmaier
Apparently Jacob Young has regained the rights to his many wonderful
films and for the first time is selling them on a website –
dancingoutlaw.com. You can buy “Dancing Outlaw” for $29.95 by itself or
for $49.95 for both “Dancing” and “Dancing Outlaw Goes to Hollywood.”
You can also buy his other parts of the “Different Drummer” series –
“Pointman for God” that is about Bernard Coffindaffer, the man who put
up all of the triple crucifixes around the state (deceased); “Dr. No”
about William Pierce, recently deceased author of “The Turner Diaries”
(which was shown on CNN at one time); “The Amazing Dolores” about the
incredible singer Dolores Boyd who also sees angels (she saw a whole
battalion in Film Services once); “Fleabag” about Charleston street
prophet Frankie Veltri, also deceased; “Glitch in the System” about
Elmer Fike, deceased, famous for refusing to clean up his Kanawha Valley
chemical company; and “Hammer on the Slammer,” a portrait of one-time
Moundsville prison warden Donald Bordenkircher. These films have been
compared to Errol Morris’ productions – “Gates of Heaven,” “The Thin
Blue Line” and others. Indeed, I sent Young the WVLC copy of “Heaven”
when I first met him – on 16-mm film. Many critics including myself
consider Morris’ first film, “Gates of Heaven” a landmark. (Les Blank
even made a film about it called “Werner Herzog Eats His Show. Herzog,
the famous German-American film director, told a beginning filmmaker,
Morris, that if he completed his first project he would “eat his
shoes.” Morris completed it, and Herzog did boil up some of his own
shoe leather. The WV Jewish Film Festival screened Herzog’s first
feature in more than a decade last January – “Invincible.”) Perhaps
most exciting of all is that for the first time you can buy a copy of
Young’s magnus opus – the 3 hour “Holy Cow, Swami!” This film about the
murderous Hare Krishna leader, Swami Bhaktipada. A book was also written
about the events explored this film. Congrats to Jacob and whomever
helped him bring his world-class talent out to the public. You can also
buy a long out-of-print copy of his first two films, “Appalachian
Junkumentary” and “Saturday Night in Babylon” about the reggae scene in
Morgantown. He is also selling copies of his most recent creation - the
pilot for a series he tried to make while he was living in Nashville,
“American Breakdown,” about automobile breakdowns on American highways.
Mari-Lynn Evans, producer of the $2 million, 4-part series on
Appalachian, "The Appalachians," has hired Young to help with her
series. Young is a full-time employee of WVU and won an award for a
recent forest safety film.